Marc Mero Recalls Not Understanding "Wildman" Gimmick In WWF

Marc Mero recently spoke with Steve Fall of Ten Count, where the topic of him becoming "Wildman" Marc Mero in WWF came up and how he felt about the character.

“I gotta tell you, I enjoyed the Johnny B Badd character so much more. It was actually really difficult when I first came to WWE in creative because we realized we can’t use the character Johnny B. Badd from WCW because they own that character. I remember in creative they kept drawing different things that they’re presenting to me and they had this character Wildman Marc Mero. I didn’t really get it and part of not getting it is like I remember Vince saying in the meeting, he goes, ‘Can you do like a Tarzan yell?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t have a very strong voice.’ It was almost like Ric Flair‘s woo. Like they wanted me to do this Tarzan yell and I just felt so uncomfortable doing it. It was like, what is a wildman? Am I from a jungle? Am I like Tarzan?”

“So I never connected with it, and unfortunately, I don’t think the audience connected with it as much as they hoped for and I hoped for. But the blessing was, you know, having my wife at the time, Sable, we connected in a different way where she really got over and, you know, at the time I was so happy for her because it’s happy for us because we’re a married couple, you know, so it was an incredible time in our lives. But also, it was sad and detrimental and everything else that happened along the way. But you look back on life and I think, of all the paths I took, good or bad, all led to where I am today. I couldn’t be happier or more blessed. So anything bad that happened, I’m like thank you, because, you know, through our struggles, we find our strength. Your current trial could be your future testimony and I never realized that until later, I look back on my life and go, wow, if I didn’t go through that, I could never talk about what I talk about today and understand what other people go through.”

On being ready for the Intercontinental Championship:

“I thought I was ready for it. I mean, my wrestling improved so much. I mean, I got in at 31 years old. By the time I got to the WWE, I was 35. I’ve learned a lot over those years and wrestled some of the greatest wrestlers in the world that taught me so much, and I thought I was ready for it, or I felt I was, but I realized that company wasn’t gonna give me the push. They weren’t gonna get behind me because I only had it for a short time. It was kind of disappointing dropping it I think a month later to Triple H, which was his first championship, was the Intercontinental title that he won from me. So it was a little disappointing, but you know, like I said, I look back on life and I don’t get too caught up on things that go my way, so to speak.”